ECOC 2024: AI and Optics

Being interview by Gareth Spence of Adtran at the recent ECOC 2024 conference and exhibition
Published book, click here
Being interview by Gareth Spence of Adtran at the recent ECOC 2024 conference and exhibition
ECOC will celebrate its 50th anniversary this month.
Professor Carmen Mas MachucaThe event will include a special session highlighting the progress made in photonics over the last half century and will feature luminary speakers.
There will also be a celebratory event with food stalls from different countries.
“There will be an opportunity to mingle, and we also plan an exhibition to look back at what has been achieved combined with what directions we need to take for the future,” says Jörg-Peter Elbers, an ECOC General Chair this year.
Gazettabyte is asking industry figures for their thoughts after attending the recent OFC show in San Diego. This penultimate part includes the thoughts of Cisco’s Ron Horan, Coherent’s Dr. Sanjai Parthasarathi, and Adtran’s Jörg-Peter Elbers.
Ron Horan, Vice President Product Management, Client Optics Group, Cisco
Several years ago, no one could have predicted how extensive the network infrastructure required to support artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) back-end networks in data centres would be. This year's OFC answered that question. In a word, immense.
An OFC conversation with Adtran's Gareth Spence and consultant Daryl Inniss about the AI opportunity for photonics, click here.
Gazettabyte has been asking industry figures to reflect on the recent ECOC show in Glasgow. The final instalment emphasises coherent technology with contributions from Adtran, Cignal AI, Infinera, Ciena, and Acacia.
The popular Market Focus sessions at ECOC
Jörg-Peter Elbers, head of advanced technology at Adtran
The ECOC 2023 conference and show was a great event. The exhibition floor was busy and offered ample networking opportunities. In turn, the conference and the Market Focus sessions provided information on the latest technologies, products, and developments.
Daryl Inniss and I being interviewed at ECOC by Adtran's Gareth Spence about the state of silicon photonics.
Click here for the interview.
For years, passive optical networks (PON) were all about fibre-to-the-premise, particularly fibre-to-the-home. Japan, South Korea, and China led the market with massive PON deployments.
"Now the focus is on fibre-to-everywhere, whether it's a home, a business, a school, a university, an enterprise, a traffic light," says Julie Kunstler, chief analyst, broadband access intelligence at Omdia.
Julie Kunstler
Meanwhile, in the US, government funding is spurring fibre deployments, especially in underserved areas.